Congratulations Julion Wilson for winning the Quiksilver Pro 2011 Portugal!

RIBEIRA D'ILHAS, Ericeira/Portugal (Sunday, June 19, 2011) - Two of the best surfers of the future generation has dueled on perfect 4-5 feet right hander waves making a final that for sure we will be seeing a lot in a near future. The Aussie Julian Wilson defeated the young Brazilian Gabriel Medina on an epic final heat in Portugal with the score of 19.37 to 12.83.

Wilson scored a 9.8 in the beggining of the heat and consolifdated his almost perfect performance onthe last wave witha 9.57 leaving no chance for his opponent.

"I am so happy. To put in the hard yards for this one has been unreal. I have had a mediocre start to my year and I have been working so hard to make some heats. I came off four weeks in Brazil without a strong result and I went home to reassess and do a bit of training and got really motivated. I flew over here by myself with just the goal of winning and stayed focused so it worked out.

I felt good right from the start when in my first heat of the contest I had a 9 and an 8 and I felt comfortable out there. I never went too much out of my comfort zone and just surfed strong and made sure I was winning heats because I wanted to win this event. I was going to do whatever it took to do it. The waves have been fun all week. I have been surprised at the waves we got because everyone was saying at this time of year it would be small. We have scored with waves, weather, the people are really supportive and you can tell they really love watching surfing. I think it's cool when they get right behind us." said JulianWilson.

The runner up Gabriel Medina (who recently won the Prime in Brazil) was having an amazing performance through out the competition but he didn't find the good waves on the finals even thoguh he caught 123 waves but only got out of the judges a 6.90 and a 5.93 and finished the heat on combo land. Medina is on his way to get a spot in the sun with the top surfers of the ASP. Watch out for this kid!

"I could not find a good one in the final but I am happy with this result. Julian got two 9's in the final and he surfed really well so congratulations to him. Now I head to my next event in a couple of weeks in Ballito, South Africa and I hope I can do well there like I have done here." said Gabriel Medina.

Finishing equal thirds were John John Florence and Miguel Pupo, two names to keep an eye on. They both had an amazing surfing performance as well but there is only one winner. I bet it is getting harder and harder for the judges to make their decisions.

Miguel Pupo said "It is a good result but I wanted to make the final. Julian (Wilson) had a quick start and then I was trying to get a good wave but it was bad luck for me. I caught a pretty good one but I fell on the second turn. You never know when the good wave is going to come and Julian did his job well. It is time now to think about the mistakes and go for the next contest. I was not feeling that good at the beginning of the comp and I was nervous because I needed a result here and now with a 3rd I am happy. My win in Trestles was a good result and a 3rd right now. A couple more results and I will be on the World Tour."

Moving up the ranking, John John Florence also had a word with the media about his performance during the Quiksilver Pro 2011 Portugal: "I was hoping just to make a heat. I haven't made a heat in the last couple of contests so I am stoked to make it this far. Definitely a lot more confidence after this contest and it would have been good to make the final but the semis is cool. It is a fun wave and stoked to be here in Portugal. Gabriel (Medina) is so amazing. He is such a good surfer and is a contest machine because he is in such good form and doing the same as he did last week in Brazil."

Quiksilver Pro Portugal 2011 Final Results

1 – Julian Wilson (AUS) 19.37
2 – Gabriel Medina (BRA) 12.83

Quiksilver Pro Portugal Semifinal Results

SF 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 17.00 Def. John John Florence (HAW) 13.67
SF 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 17.04 Def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 11.37

Quiksilver Pro Portugal Quarterfinal Results

QF 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 18.37 Def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 12.33
QF 2: John John Florence (HAW) 18.03 Def. Pat Gudauskas (USA) 12.43
QF 3: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 13.84 Def. Dion Atkinson (AUS) 10.17
QF 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) 14.26 Def. Jay Quinn (NZL) 9.40

Written by Marcio Ferreira